Registration for Ziggy Fall 2024 is now Open! Signup here!

"The Best Online Debate Tournament"

Connecting middle school, junior high, high school, and collegiate debaters all across the country.

Debate from anywhere.

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Ethos Debate, LLC

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ASDA

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About Us

What is Ziggy Online Debate®?

     Ziggy provides access to national debate tournaments at minimal cost with maximal convenience.

     Ziggy Online Debate® is a national online debate tournament platform for middle school, junior high, high school, and collegiate debaters. We use topics from the Stoa, NCFCA, and ASDA leagues, and offer Team Policy/Cross Examination, Lincoln Douglas, Moot Court, and both Team and Individual Parliamentary debate. Moot Court will be offered this fall 2023 semester using NCFCA’s topic. Also offered Fall 2023, is our first ever junior team event.

     Here’s how it works: Students complete one debate each week (in the Fall) or every two weeks (in the Spring). They are matched against other students around the country based on performance. The judge pool is comprised of students’ parents, coaches, and alumni. Students learn life skills by taking control of their own schedule and communicating with their opponent to find a time during the week that they can both debate, then they contact judges using our Judge List software to request a judge. Students will receive their ballot instantly when the judge submits the ballot, so they can get immediate feedback.

     Judges and debaters use the Ziggy Online Debate® Tournament Platform to schedule rounds and fill out and view ballots. Skype, Zoom, Discord, Google Hangouts, and Google Meet are frequently used for the video or voice debate rounds. Debaters can self-time and/or time each other.

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Testimonials

What Our Debaters and Judges Say

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“I’m going into my third year of competition and Ziggy was one of the best decisions I made to help prepare myself. It gave me a national perspective as each region is different in its own way. I watched my speaking and communication abilities begin to develop as I got more and more practice through these debates. Being able to choose when your round happens in the week + time span you’re given is a huge plus. You also get to meet other debaters across the nation. Ziggy is one of the best decisions you could make for getting debate practice."
Zoe Abbott, COMPETITOR
“I am grateful for Ziggy because it gives you a ton of practice with arguments from all over the nation to different judge perspectives to communication skills. if you have a small debate club then Ziggy should be a top investment for you because then you won't have to debate the same club members 24/7. Highly recommend!”
Kaylee Dodson, competitor
"Ziggy is a necessity for any debater. The ability to practice your rounds online, both before and during the season, allows debaters to develop their arguments in a way that would be otherwise impossible, and gives those who use it a pronounced competitive edge. On a personal level, I credit much of my success to honing my skills in Ziggy tournaments. The tournament platform is easy-to-use, the staff is helpful, and the experience is unparalleled. 11/10"
Nathan Spencer, competitor
"In my opinion, Ziggy is one of the best ways to improve your debate skills. The weekly practice rounds have helped me encounter new arguments and cases, and has helped me become more familiar with the resolutions (which is really great for new debaters!). On top of that, Ziggy's staff has been incredibly kind and helpful, and they've done some really fun events! Overall, I would highly recommend Ziggy to anyone seeking to improve their debate skills as well as those looking to make new friends!"
Jonah Lang, competitor
“Try, try, try again. And when after that you fall and fail, try one more time.” This is advice that I’ve received time and time again. This powerful advice is exactly why Ziggy means so much to me. Ziggy enabled me to have well over 150 practice rounds. In the fall of 2020, I decided to sign up for 6 different Ziggy rounds per week — I loved to debate, and I really wanted to improve and get better, even when I failed in rounds. Near the end of my high school debate career, Ziggy paid off 1000%. I placed 4th at the 2021 NCFCA nationals — only because of the immense amount of practice rounds I had been able to achieve in the time before. Ziggy allowed me to test out new case ideas, receive tons of feedback from judges, and even get closer to the partner that brought us both to 4th at nats. I will forever be grateful to Ziggy and Isaac Sommers for creating this wonderful platform. And I’m hopeful that, if you would just give it a try, Ziggy too can be as helpful to you as it was to me. #LongLiveZiggyOnlineDebate #SommersAryani2024
Justin Marwad, competitor
Our Features

Ziggy Online Debate Features

Check out everything Ziggy has to offer!

View All FEATURES
National Competition

Debate students from all across the country. Easy access for rural competitors. Sign up for one or multiple debate leagues.

Powermatching

Debate against other competitors with similar skill levels.

Affordable

Ziggy tournaments cost far less than most in-person tournaments—just $30-35! We are committed to keeping costs low and we avoid raising prices as much as possible.

Customer Support

Contact us at any time, via text, email, Google Chat, or Facebook Messenger. We’ll typically  respond within 2 hours.

Privacy

We value your privacy and protect pages with contact information with a username and password. We will never sell your information to anyone, period.

Flexibility

Ziggy lets you and your opponent coordinate when to debate for maximum scheduling flexibility.

Awards

Our top competitors get free Ziggy swag! And even better, we’re in the process of working with educational institutions to offer scholarship awards for our top performing students.

Advanced Scheduling

You can select rounds/weeks to opt out of when signing up for Ziggy, and you’re able to schedule rounds based on your schedule.

Real-World Results

Ziggy debaters have proven track records of performing well in league tournaments.

Analytics

Get prizes (for the top teams) and rankings at the end of the tournament.

Debate Styles

We offer LD, TP, junior team debate, Team and Individual Parli (collegiate debaters are welcome to join), and Moot Court—for students from a plethora of debate leagues.

National Prep Group

Ziggy TP members can apply to an NCFCA National Prep Group. Learn more about how to join here! (Login required)

Coming Soon: Use the Ziggy Tournament Platform for Your Tournament!

More information coming soon. Interested in hosting an online tournament but don’t have the software? Contact us with questions.

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